The latest game *is* a doozey; your young friend is correct to that extent. But I think it's winnable. I just got booted off a pivotal continent, around day 115. However, the enemy has completely ignored a couple of juicy continents; if I can set up on them his days will be numbered.

[Later] 165 days did the trick. I'd guess that this map was a little more "unbalanced" than usual, meaning that my success was dictated more by initial luck than by skill. The clincher was (as mentioned above) conquering two continents containing 15 cities that the enemy completely ignored.

On a previous voice card I crowed about my prowess at level 11 of Strategic Conquest. Probably my confidence was a little bit premature. My current success ratio at that level is down around 30%, at an unscientific guess.